Abstract

The main objective of this research is to study the environmental impacts of asphalt
pavement construction in Sabah. From an environmental perspective, case studies
have been carried out around Kota Kinabalu and Kota Marudu. All data were obtained
based on the collection of construction data directly from the site as the asphalt
pavement construction process was going on, by gathering relevant information from
the main contractor and also from the researchers observation at said site. This
study has identified few problems during the asphalt pavement construction
(available report used different base data and analysis method). LCA was employed
in this study to analyze the pollution produced during asphalt pavement works in
Sabah. Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Environmental and Economic Effects
(PaLATE) has been used as the LCA model in this study. This study focused on
asphalt pavement as it is the most commonly used in Sabah, whereby about 80%-
90% were paved with asphalt. The input data for the analysis were obtained from
the main contractor, clients and researchers observation on site. LCA was carried out
on two different road projects based on the accessibility of the site projects from the
contractor and also the duration of the actual work of asphalt pavement construction
done to suit with the research planning. LCA was carried out at the project-level for a
pavement section and was performed during initial construction, according to
pavement structure layers for material/process life-cycles. Asphalt pavement
construction life-cycle stage consisted of material production, material transport and
processes stages. From the results, it was concluded that the production and
transport of the materials used in road constructions produced the most significant
environmental impacts. Production of bitumen, aggregate and transports of materials
were the most energy consuming in the life-cycle stages of the asphalt pavement
construction. A large part of the emissions to the atmosphere were from energy
production.